Rafael of Eagle Imports brought a plethora of pistols to Big 3 East. I will be honest, I did not think much of Bersa until I got to see them first hand. I relegated Bersa handguns to something just higher than Hi-Point and Kel-Tec pistols. Inexpensive and they work but nothing stellar to get me excited. How wrong I was.

The Bersa Thunder 9 Pro XT is a great gun and ready for competition. It has a fiber optic front sight and adjustable rear sight. Ambidextrous controls and a long slide/barrel. Trigger pull is crisp and short.

The Thunder 9 Pro XT slide is hand lapped and the barrel is hand fitted. MSRP is $925 and comes with 5 magazines.

The Grand Power pistols were what interested me the most. They are made in Slovakia and I remember jealously watching a video of Polenar Tactical shooting a select fire Grand Power a while ago.

Unfortunately Rafael does not have a machine pistol to bring with him. I was not dissapointed though. The Grand Power pistols are remarkable. They have a rotating locking barrel similar in function as the Beretta PX4 Storm. The Grand Power pistols are not bulky like the PX4 storms. The slides rack with little effort. Almost like racking an airsoft gas blow back pistol slide. The K100 X-Trim caught my eye. I am a sucker for slide cuts.

Even better looking and functioning is the X-Calibur K100. It has a 5″ barrel compared to the K100’s 4.3″ barrel. The trigger weight is reduced and SA only. The safeties have been enlarged to huge wings that act as thumb rests. You can swap them out for shorter or flush versions. The barrel is fluted for increased strength, reduced weight and accuracy.

The most surprising pistol was by far this P40 chambered in 10mm. When Rafael recommended I shoot this 10mm I winced at the idea. I had shot the Glock 40 10mm and did not like it. Shooting a shorter barreled 10mm did not seem like a pleasant experience. I was very wrong. Sure 10mm are notoriously powerful. But shooting this 10mm Grand Power felt like I was shooting my Glock 22. Yes there is recoil and muzzle climb but not nearly at the magnitude I was expecting. It felt like shooting a .40s&w hand gun. Very very impressive.

Metroarms American Classic makes 1911’s in the Philippines. As you can tell by now, I immediately gravitate to race guns. Rafael brought this 3011 SSD. This steel framed, double stack .45acp is quite the shooter. I wanted to check out their 2011 in 9mm and see how it compares to my STI Steelmaster but he did not have them there.

I thought Browning was the only company with a petite .380 1911. Well that is not the case. Spanish manufacturer Llama has their Micromax .380. Unfortunately this one is a non-firing prototype. But so far it looks good. The best part is the price. Compared to Browning’s .380 at $599, the Llama version will be only $350.

For more information about these pistols, check out EagleImports.com.